Utility car



May 22, 1962 1. K. STEWART UTILITY CAR 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March l2, 1959 May 22, 1962 J. K. STEWART UTILITY CAR 3 Sheets-511e@*fl 2 Filed March l2, 1959 A Sfar/afer May 22, 1962 J. K. STEWART 3,035,529

AUTILITY CAR Filed Maron 12, 1959 5 Sheetsheet 5 United States Patent G 3,035,529 UTILITY CAR John Kenneth Stewart, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, as-

signor to Canada Iron Foundries Limited, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Filed Mar. 12, 1959, Ser. No. 798,894 Claims. (Cl. 10S-177) This invention relates to railway vehicles, primarily, but not exclusively, to railway maintenance vehicles of the type used for carrying a repair or maintenance gang and equipment.

Such vehicles often have to be removed from the railway track temporarily to make way -for through going traffic and it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a railway vehicle with improved means for effecting ready removal of the vehicle from the railway track and subsequent replacement thereon.

It has previously been proposed to provide a railway vehicle with -a pair of longitudinally spaced transversely extending endless track mechanisms extending across the full width of the vehicle, these mechanisms being adapted vehicle continued to rise above the rails until the centre of gravity of the vehicle crossed the rim of the embankment whereupon the front end of the vehicle came crashing down on the nearest rail; This, of course is extremely undesirable as it could cause serious damage to the rails. The present invention overcomes this disadvantage.

According to the invention there is provided a railway I maintenance vehicle mounted on rail engaging wheels and having at least two pairs of endless tracks and supports therefor disposed transversely of the vehicle and spaced longitudinally thereof, the tracks and supports of each g pair being mutually spaced transversely of the vehicle and adapted, in operation, to present relatively small groundengaging portions of the tracks spaced apart a distance which differs slightly from that .between the rails of a railway track, means for effecting vertical adjustment of said endless tracks and supports, to raise and lower the vehicle, and means for driving said endless tracks.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: v

FIGURE l is a side elevation of the vehicle with the endless tracks in raised position, the tamper head in raised position and the loading ramp member in lowered position in full lines and in raised position in dotted lines.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary side elevation partly in section showing the endless tracks and driving vmechanism therefor.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view in the line III--lll of FIGURE 2 looking in the direction of the arrows.

FIGURE 4 is a detail showing the chain and sprocket drive for the endless tracks.

As shown in FIGURE l the vehicle comprises a body 1 having rail-engaging wheels 2, retractible endless tracks 3, tamper mounting mechanism 4 at the front end, and a rear loading ramp member 5.

The wheels 2, endless tracks 3, tamping mounting mechanism 4 and loading ramp member 5 are all adapted to be operated from a convenient source of power on the vehicle for example a hydraulic pumping mechanism driven by an internal combustion engine.

- well clear of the rails.

3,035,529 Patented May 22, 1962 ICC Referring to FIGURES 2, 3 and 4 it will be seen that .the retractible endless tracks 3 are guided on their lower run fby support members 6 which are downwardly bowed and are pivotally mounted on the vehicle chassis to be vertically swingable about axes 7, 8 which are spaced transversely of the vehicle. As shown in FIGURE 3 the ground-engaging portion of each endless track is relatively small (in fact but a few links in span) and these portions in each pair of endless tracks are spaced apart a distance slightly greater than that between the rails of a railway track. Thus, when the lvehicle is climbing an embankment onto a railway track, the leading endless tracks will climb over the rim of the embankment and remain in contact with the ground until they engage the nearer rail, in contradistinction to what occurs when the vehicle is provided with endless tracks extending across the full width thereof, namely a continued elevation of the front end of the vehicle until the centre of gravity of the vehicle passes over the rim of the embankment, whereupon the whole vehicle swings upon the rim vand the front end crashes down onto the nearer rail.

Each of the support members 6 has an upstanding lever arm or bracket 9 which forms with its support 6 a bell-crank lever type of construction. The lever arms 9 of each transversely aligned pair of tracks are interconnected by a double-acting piston-and-cylinder arrangement 10, 10a. The cylinder 10a is pivotally connected to one lever at 10p and the piston 10 is connected to the other lever at 10s. The piston and cylinder is operable to eiect the vertical swinging of the members 6 and endless tracks 3. Thus when the vehicle is resting on the rails 11 of a railway track and supported by the wheels 2, as shown in FIGURE l, introduction of hydraulic uid unfder pressure from a power source on the vehicle into the cylinder 10a forces the cylinder in one direction and the piston 10 inthe other direction thereby electing downward swinging of the supports 6 and tracks 3 into engagement with the rails 11 to lift wheels 2 olf the rails so that the vehicle weight is taken by the tracks. The tracks 3 are forced downwards until the anges of wheels 2 are By operating the tracks 3 the vehicle can be moved sidewise off the rails without having the anges of wheels 2 foul the rails. During sidewise movement of the vehicle the wheels 2 are protected by the bowed contour of tracks 3 and supports 6. Individual links 3a of the tracks 3 are formed of hardened steel and are channel-like in their configuration. The size of the links is such that they will lie atop but not span a rail headv (FIGURE 3).

To replace the vehicle wheels on the rails the vehicle is moved back onto the rails by tracks 3 and hydraulic fluid is introduced in the opposite sense to the cylinder of piston-and-cylinder arrangement 1t) to draw pivot points 10p, 10s together and elfect upward swinging of 4the members 6 and tracks 3, thereby lowering the vehicle until wheels 2 engage the rails 11. A considerable saving in the power required to replace the vehicle on the railway track is effected by vir-tue of the fact `that the groundengagingV portions of the tracks 3 are spaced -apart a distance which differs slightly from the distance between the -rails 11. In FIG. 3 the distance between the ground-engaging portions of tracks 3 is slightly greater than the distance between the r-ails 11 but it will be appreciated that it could have been made slightly less than the distance between rails 1=1 and still suce to effect a power saving. The sole requirement is that the spacing be such that the tracks will not engage both rails simultaneously to effect raising of the total weight of the vehicle in one step but instead will rst engage one rail to effect 50% of the total raise Ibefore the other yrail is engaged. The displacement of the rail head from the center line of the ground-engaging portion of the corresponding track 3 is of the order of 3 to 6 inches, preferably 3 inches.

The tracks 3 are driven by a hydraulic motor through a reduction gear box 12a, sprockets 13, 14, 15, 16 Vand chain 17. The lower run of sprocket chain 17 runsunder the bottom surface or a chain guide housing 17a so that if the front caterpillar tracks ride .over an'exceptionally high obstacle or bump and are left'suspended on the other side the rollers of the chain will engage `the top'of the obstacle or bump to facilitate travel of thevehicle over same, the housing 17a 'serving asa rigid support for the lower run of the chain. Thisarrangement of chain 17 and housing 17a will also prove advantageous when the vehicle is climbing over the rim of an exceptionally steep embankment. Each of sprockets 15, 16 iskeyed to a shaft, one of such shafts being'shown at 18 in FIGURE 2. Also keyed to shaft 18 Vare sprockets 19 engaging the chain 2t) of a track 3. An idler sprocket 211,V also in engagement with chainl 20 is provided at the outer end of each support member 6 Iand the upper run of each caterpillar track 3 is supported by a rounded web 2-2 secured to the 4frame of the vehicle.

It will be manifest, of course, that the contour of support members 6 must be such that the height of the lower run of tracks 3, as measured from the ground-engaging portions of the lower tangent points of tracks 3 with sprockets `15, `16 and 211, is greater than the height of a rail, thus ensuring ready engagement of the tracks 3 with t-he rail for climbing on to or over same.

The vehicle illustrated in the drawings is yadapted to transport a railway gang and maintenance or repair units from Aone working location to another. Such units may be wheeled tie removers',trackaligners, etc., that are selfcontained units provided with wheels*` for 'running 'on the track when the yunits are pushed. For the purpose of such transportation the body y1 of the vehicle isV of box shaped construction toacc'or'nmoda'teV the equipmentand is provided with seats 35 yfor they gang of Workers, the seats 35 extending along the sides of the vehicle.

What I claim as my invention'is: f f

V1. A railway maintenance vehicle mounted on'wheels, said wheels adapted to' engage rails, and vhaving at least two pairs of endless tracks and supports therefor 'disposed transversely of the vehicle and spaced longitudinally thereof, Vthe tracks and supports of e-ach'pir'being mutually spaced transversely of the vehicle and adapted, inoperation, to present relatively small ground-engagingportions ofthe tracks spaced apart a'distance which dilersslightly fromvthat between the rails of ,a railway track, 'said supports comprising a downwardly bowed member pivotally mounted at its inner end to the underside or the vehicle and having an upstanding lever arm at said inner end, the

ytwo lever arms of each transversely aligned pair beinginterconnected by a double-acting piston-andcylinder arrangement for effecting vertical adjustment of the endless tracks and supports to raise and'lower the vehicle wheels off and onto the rails, and means for driving said endless tracks, the downwardly bowed Vmember being bowed to Y a depth greater than the height ofV the rail of a railway track.

2. A device as claim-ed in'claim 1 in which Vthe individual links of each endless Vtrack are too small to span a railhead but large enough to lie atop thereof. y

3. A railway maintenance vehicle mounted on wheels,

said wheels adapted to eng-age rails, and having at least two pairs of endless tracks and supports including downwardly bowed guide members therefor disposed transversely of the vehicle and spaced longitudinally thereof, the tracks and supports of each pair being mutually spaced transversely of the vehicle and the bowed guide members presenting, in operation, a relatively small ground-engaging portion of the tracks, the centres of which portions are spaced apart a distance which differs slightly from that between the rails of a railway track, means for effecting the vertical adjustment of said endless tracks and supports to raise and lower the vehicle wheels off and onto the rails, and lmeans for driving the endless tracks, the guide members being bowed to a depth greater than the height of .a rail of a railway track. Y

4. A railway maintenance vehicle having front and rear ends and being mounted on Wheels located near those ends, said wheels adapted to engage rails, a iirst pair of endless tracks and supports therefor, one track vand supportbeing mounted on each side of said vehicle,

said pair extending transversely of the vehicle in transver'se yalignment and being located adjacent the front wheels of the vehicle, a second pair of endless tracks and supports therefor, one track and support being mounted on each side of said vehicle, said pair extending transversely of the vehicle in transverse alignment and being located adjacent the rear wheels of the vehicle, the supports foreach track including a downwardly bowed guide member of greater depth ythan the height of a rail of a `railway track and presenting in operation a relatively small ground-engaging portion of the tracks, the centers 'of which portions are spaced apart a distance which differs slightly `from that between the rails of a railway track, means for electing the vertical radjustment of said endless tracks and supports to raise and lower the vehicle wheels off and onto the rails,` and means for driving the endless tracks.

5. A vehicle as claimed in claim 4 wherein the means for driving the endless tracks includes a sprocket connected to the inner end of the run of each endless track of each pair, a first chain drive mutually connecting the sprockets of the rst pair of endless tracksY and a second chain drive mutually connecting the sprockets of the second pair of endless tracks, each chain drive having a lower run extending across the bottom of both sprockets driven thereby and immediately beneath its chain guide i whereby the lower run of each chain drive may act, if

engaged by an obstacle to assist the endless tracks in driving the vehicle.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,388,236 Bressler Aug.|23, 1921 1,448,372 Bager et al. Mar. 13,1923 2,734,463 Hursh et al, Feb. 14, 1956 2,762,315, VTalboys i Sept.V l1, 1956 2,781,002 Talboys Feb. 12, 1957 2,789,516 Hursh et al. r ..g Apr. 23, 1957 2,782,707 Wolf Apr. 23, 1957 2,792,134 Kinnee May 14," 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 2,283,435 Australia u..l v '.r. May 30, 1935 

